The Auror and the Chosen One
by Pesky Ixy Pesternomi
Summary: Harry asked Tonks to join him for a lunch date in Hogsmeade, where the soon find themselves tossed into battle.


Harry sat alone at a table in the very back of the Three Broomsticks, two butterbeers resting on the table, his almost empty. He was steadily becoming more embarrassed as the time ticked by, other Hogwarts students were milling around the pub and he pretended not to notice the glances his way, or the curious whispers questioning who exactly it was he was waiting on. He drank again from his cup, glancing at the door. He'd left Ron and Hermione to their shopping, giving some vague excuse about needing to do something and walked off. Harry had been having a difficult time of things since Sirius had died, and they both knew it so they didn't question him. Aside from Quidditch, not much could make Harry smile these days.

The tiny tinkling of bells alerted Harry to the fact that somebody was entering the pub, and the shock of purple hair he caught from underneath her hood made him sink back into his chair with relief. He hadn't been sure if she'd received his owl or not. She spotted him sitting in the corner and strode over to him, lowering her hood. She stumbled a bit as she bumped into a chair on her trek across the pub, but caught herself before crashing into the ground.

"Wotcher, Harry." She gave him a sheepish smile, settling down in the chair opposite him.

"Hullo, Tonks." He returned with a slight grin. It was hard to be anything but amused in Tonks' presence.

"So," she began "what's the reason for wanting to meet me here?" She asked with concern laced into every word, though she suspected she already knew.

Harry's grin fell, and he looked into his butterbeer, searching for the words he needed. He wasn't honestly sure why he'd asked her to meet him, other than feeling as if maybe she'd understand. He couldn't talk to Ron and Hermione about things, he couldn't stand the looks of sympathy he got from them. He was so tired of sympathy. Tonks was to him, the obvious choice in confidants, though she was a member of the Order she was much younger than many of her peers, somebody he could view as a friend rather than a mentor. It helped that Sirius had been her cousin, estranged or not. Perhaps she would understand a bit of what Harry was feeling. He told her all of this as best he could, but what he failed to mention was that above all else, Tonk just had a way of making him relax. He found her company to be incredibly pleasant, if for no reason other than that she just treated him like Harry. Just Harry.

"I just can't let go of it, it's my fault he's dead." Harry choked out, a lump in his throat. "I'm not prepared for this. Any of this. How can they expect me to defeat one of the most powerful wizards of our time? I'm still trying to perfect the Wronski Feint."

Tonks studied him for a moment, never seeing Harry for the sixteen year old wizard that he was as much as she did in that moment. Had it only been seven years since she'd been in his position? Not knowing where life would take her, and struggling so hard to achieve something she thought would be impossible? She had achieved it though, and as she looked upon Harry she knew in her heart that he had everything it took to rise to the challenges before him.

"Listen to me very carefully now Harry. I need you to remember these words." She told him, leaning across the table to stare intently into his eyes. "Sirius is dead. Sirius is dead and you have nobody to blame but Bellatrix Lestrange. You are not at fault. Sirius chose to come to the Department of Mysteries. Sirius chose to fight. He would have gone to that battle even if you weren't there, because that's who Sirius was."

"That battle wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been foolish enough to believe Voldemort's tricks." Harry protested.

Tonks leaned back into her seat again, studying the boy in front of her. Though she could hardly call him a boy anymore. He'd been through too much to still claim boyhood, seen too many horrible things.

"You're right." She said, garnering a surprised look from Harry who had expected her to continue insisting it wasn't his fault. "That battle wouldn't have happened. But another one would have, and Sirius might have died at that one. Or he might have died during the first war, when he confronted Pettigrew, or during any of the many battles he participated in as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. Sirius knew what he was getting into. We all know. You may be the Chosen One Harry," she spoke quietly so that nobody around them could hear, "but you aren't the Only One. We are all in this for reasons much greater than ourselves. It's so much bigger than Harry Potter and Voldemort. If you were to lose your battle, we would wage on. But I don't think you'll lose." She smiled kindly at him.

Silence fell over the rickety table in the corner as Harry allowed Tonks' words to sink in.

"I never got a choice." He said finally.

Tonks gave him a small, sad smile as she reached a hand across the table, narrowly missing the sugar pot which gave a threatening wobble. She squeezed his hand reassuringly before she spoke again.

"Was there ever really any other choice for you to make Harry?" she asked knowingly.

He opened his mouth to answer, but before he could get the words out, a shrill scream pierced through the dull buzz of conversation around the pub. The entire building fell silent. A second scream broke through the air and Harry and Tonks leapt into action, knocking the small table over and thoroughly dismantling their private bubble of conversation. The patrons of the bar began to panic. Tonks removed her heavy traveling cloak and with the authority that only an Auror might possess demanded silence of the small crowd.

"Rosmerta, send word to the castle if you can manage it. Keep the students inside and don't let anyone else enter." She ordered of the barmaid. "Anybody of age and willing to fight, please do so. Protect the children." She barked out her orders with a steely look in her eyes before turning to Harry. "You ready for that battle?"

Harry had already drawn his wand and with an affirmative nod they both made for the door of the pub, Tonks checking to make sure they were safe from fire before striding out into the chaos that Hogsmeade had quickly become. There were students and villagers alike screaming and ducking for cover. Honeydukes had caught fire and Ambrosius Flume could be seen desperately trying to put the fire out with his wand while shooting glance after glance over his shoulder making sure he did not fall victim to a stray curse. A loud explosion and the shattering of glass alerted the pair to the fact that the bookshop was now under attack.

"There are only about ten of them," Tonks quickly assessed, "I don't think this attack has been orchestrated by Voldemort, if it has been, it's meant as a warning." She took off in the direction of the bookshop, Harry close at her heels. They quickly came upon a masked Death Eater who was gleefully shooting _Expulsos_ at any of the bookshelves his spells could reach through the front windows.

" _Stupefy!_ " Harry yelled, brandishing his wand quickly at the Death Eater, who hadn't yet realized help come. He flew forward, knocking his head on one of the bookshelves he hadn't yet gotten to, heavy tomes toppling down on top of him.

"Nice one!" Tonks grinned, as she shot her own stunner at the next available Death Eater, who had cornered two fifth year Ravenclaw girls. "Get off the streets! Hide quickly!" She ordered of the girls, who didn't need to be told twice before ducking inside of Dervish and Banges.

A whiz of red light almost grazed Harry's ear, had he not ducked just in time and three more Death Eaters came running into view, now fully aware of the fact that Harry Potter was in the street, and he was fighting back.

" _Protego!_ " Tonks yelled, throwing a shield charm up around them before landing a well aimed _Petrificus Totalus_ on the Death Eater in the middle. Both Harry and Tonks squared off against their own opponent, hexes and curses flying every which way as they ducked and dashed around the street. The Death Eater that Harry was battling shot a _Crucio_ at him, which Harry dove at the ground to avoid before firing a _Confringo_ at the man. The Death Eater deflected Harry's blasting curse, which bounced off of his shield charm and blasted a hole into the front of the Post Office. Harry took advantage of his opponents temporary loss of vision as a swarm of owls screeched and flew out into the street in between them, and successfully struck the Death Eater in the foot with a _Stupefy_ , leaving him unconscious. Harry looked around to see how Tonks was doing, just in time to see her catch the other Death Eater's wand in her hand and quickly snap it in half before binding him with ropes that shot out of her wand. Their shared glance was immediately interrupted by a sudden gleeful shriek that Harry knew all too well.

"If it isn't baby Potter!" the vile woman cackled manically. "Come to save the day?" Bellatrix Lestrange was dancing and skipping towards the pair of them like a sick and twisted child, flanked on either side by who could only be the Lestrange brothers.

" _Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus! Sectumsempra!"_ He shot off at her in quick succession, not bothering to exchange niceties. She deflected each of his advances easily, laughing harder at his frustration. She shot a tripping jinx at him, knocking his feet out from beneath him, which only angered him further.

"Must you always play with your victims?" One of the Lestranges asked of her in a rather bored voice.

"Shut up and dispose of the Auror, Potter is mine!" She barked, and the two brothers quickly fell into battle against Tonks.

"How have you been Potter," Bellatrix asked mockingly, "last time I saw you, it was right after I sent dear Sirius to his death, was it not?" She grinned wickedly, knocking Harry back to his feet as he tried to stand. A flare of anger shot through Harry at the mention of Sirius and from his position on the ground he screamed out _Crucio!_

Bellatrix deflected his curse with a predatory gleam in her eye.

"I thought we'd already had this lesson Potter, you shouldn't attempt curses you're incapable of delivering. You have to _mean_ it." She cackled. "You don't have the bollocks for that curse."

"Trust me, I mean it!" Harry yelled as he jumped to his feet, hitting Bellatrix in the shoulder with a _Diffindo_ causing a large gash to appear and blood to splatter on her face. She growled as she staggered backwards.

"You've ruined my dress, Potter! That wasn't very nice!" she growled out before hitting Harry with a _Crucio_ herself. Harry felt as if white hot knives were searing into his flesh at all points, but he bit down as hard as he could, holding in his screams even as he dropped to the ground. Bellatrix smirked. "It isn't any fun if you don't let me hear you scream Harry!" She mocked, brandishing her wand at him even further as the pain intensified, before releasing him of the curse.

"Wouldn't want to give you the satisfaction." Harry spoke through grit teeth, trying to gather himself. She grinned at his cheek before placing him back under the Cruciatus Curse. He endured the pain for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few moments before a series of loud cracks filled the air and Bellatrix released him from her curse, looking around wildly.

"Guess that's my cue, Potter!" She taunted as Order members rushed into the street from multiple directions, "We'll play again later." She promised before wiggling her fingers at him mockingly and disapparating, her husband and his brother following suit.

Harry dropped to the ground, his breathing labored, only vaguely aware of Tonks rushing towards him.

"You're alright Harry, I've got you." She told him softly as she helped him to his feet. He saw Remus running towards them from a distance as other members of the Order cleaned up the mess that was Hogsmeade and Aurors began appearing on the scene.

"You might want to get out of here Tonks," Remus spoke as he reached them, "I don't think it would be especially prudent for your coworkers to realize you're a member of the Order just yet. They might start asking questions that don't need to be answered if they see you here."

Tonks gave a slight nod, releasing Harry's arm as Remus helped to steady him. She made to disapparate, but not before Harry spoke.

"Tonks," he said, still attempting to catch his breath, "the answer is no. There never was any other choice."

She smiled at him sadly before wrapping her arms around him in a reassuring hug.

"There was never any other choice for Sirius either Harry. He'd be proud of you." She spoke softly, so only Harry could hear, before releasing him and turning on the spot.


End file.
